Phosphine, Aerosols and Temperature Variations in Saturn's Upper Troposphere from Cassini/CIRS Observations

Details Phosphine, Aerosols and Temperature Variations in Saturn's Upper Troposphere from Cassini/CIRS Observations Phosphine, Aerosols and Temperature Variations in Saturn's Upper Troposphere from Cassini/CIRS Observations

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.1128f&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #11.28; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.501

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Thermal infrared data from the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS, Flasar et al., 2004) has been used to produce global maps of temperature, para-hydrogen fraction, phosphine and ammonia distribution in the 60-800 mbar region with a high spatial resolution that can only be achieved by the Cassini orbiter. Since orbital insertion in July 2004, CIRS has recorded thousands of spectra in both the far (10 - 600 cm-1) and mid (600 - 1400 cm-1) infrared, at a variety of apodized spectral resolutions (0.5 - 15.0 cm-1) and viewing geometries, covering both hemispheres of the gas giant.
Each of these maps will be used to discuss zonal and meridional motions within Saturn's upper troposphere. Tropospheric temperature variations are shown to occur on the same scale as the prograde and retrograde jets in Saturn's atmosphere (Porco et al., 2005), superimposed onto a much larger seasonal asymmetry. The presence of a double-lobed tropopause structure, first identified by Voyager/IRIS (Hanel et al. (1981)), which is most obvious at the northern and southern equatorial belts and more prevalent in southern summer than northern winter, will be discussed. Phosphine mapping is extended into the northern hemisphere as Cassini's orbit rises to higher inclinations, and as this is a disequilibrium species in Saturn's cold upper troposphere (Orton et al., 2000, 2001) it may be used as a tracer for the upwelling of constituent-rich air from deeper within the atmosphere. Small variations in NH3 and the para-hydrogen fraction with latitude will also be discussed in this context.
Flasar, F.M. et al. (2004). Space Science Rev., 115:169-297.
Hanel et al. (1981). Science, 212, 192
Orton, G.S. et al. (2000, 2001). Icarus, 146:48-59, Icarus, 149:489-490.
Porco, C.C. et al. (2005). Science, 307:1243-1247.
Acknowledgements: This work is funded by the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research council.

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